Tag: turkey

Today is Thanksgiving day, which is probably the second most popular holiday in the US where families get together and feast on a turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and jelly, followed by a pecan or pumpkin pie with lots of whip cream. Here’s a comic about Thanksgiving by Matthew Inman http://theoatmeal.com/comics/thanksgiving.

When I hear “turkey”, it always reminds me of a story that I first read few years ago in a book called The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. A story that I’ve told multiple times (I have my own version now with all the salt and pepper), it goes like this: A turkey wakes up hungry, and furiously searches for food until she finds some in the corner. Same deal the second day until she finds more food in the same spot. Fast forward few weeks, the turkey doesn’t think about food anymore, when she’s hungry she knows where to go. The turkey’s life is amazing, she’s never hungry, she can now focus on other activities until one day around the end of November, she’s snatched from her little heaven and a butcher is about to do his little business.

The moment before the knife touches the turkey’s throat, she’s in shock, and she’s wondering why. How could you blame her? she didn’t do anything wrong, and there is no way she could’ve seen this coming. This goes to all of us, I smile and remember the turkey story when I hear someone saying things like “Ohh my boss said that I’m on a fast track for a high position” or “I have a stable job at company X, their stock is getting more gain”. Find a good balance in your life, don’t take shortcuts and don’t get carried away by the little details. There is a favorite quote from a Kevin Spacey movie “You can’t win a marathon without putting some bandaids on your nipples”